a little woman, Irish brídeag,
a figure of St. Bridget made
on the Saint's eve by maidens for divination purposes.
See Bri@ghid in the list of Proper Names. Shaw gives bridag,
part of the jaw, which
H.S.D. reproduces as brìdeag.

chit-chat, Irish ++briot, chatter, briotach, a stammerer:
br@.t-t-, br@.-t, root bar, ber, as in
Latin barbarus,
Greek
@Gbárbaros,
berberízu, I stammer. The reference of
briot to the name
Breatnaich or Briotons as foreigners and stammerers is scarcely
happy.

break, so Irish,
Old Irish brissim, *brestô, I break, root bres, bhres;
Old High German brestan, Anglo-Saxon berstan, English burst,
French briser,
break. Distantly allied to *berso-s, short, Gaelic
beàrr.
Brugmann
has compared the Gaelic to
Greek
@Gpérqw, destroy, from
bherdho-, giving a Celtic stem br@.d-to-, and br@.d-co- for
brisg.

the bosom; properly the breast covering (H.S.D., for latter
meaning); cf.
Gaelic brot,
Old Irish broiténe, palliolum. The word
appears to be from
brat, mantle, with a leaning for meaning
on
bruinne, breast.

stir up, Irish brosduighim,
Early Irish brostugud, inciting. The
word is from the root bros-, in brosdo- of
brod, q.v., being here
bros-to-, which become brosso-, and later reverts to brost,
brosd, or remains as in brosnaich. Stokes says it is founded
on Low Latin brosdus, brusdus, broidery, "done by a needle",
or brosd, which is of Teutonic origin and cognate with Gaelic
brod, already given as the root.
Hence brosgadh, stimulation,
etc. The Irish brosna,
Old Irish brosne, faggot, may be hence;
the root bhrud,
discussed under ++bronn, has also been suggested.

a fragment; *bhroud-no-, from *bhroud, break, Anglo-Saxon
bréostan, break, English brittle, etc.,
as under bronn. Strachan
also suggests *bhroucno-, Lettic brukt, crumple, and Stokes the
root of
brùth.

boil, cook; gutturalised form of
bruith (cf.
bràth, bràch).
See
bruith. The Irish bruighim appears in
O'R., and has been
compared to Latin frîgo,
Greek
@Gfrúgw, roast; but it is evidently
a bad spelling of
bruith.

victory, virtue, so Irish,
Old Irish buaid, Welsh budd,
Old Breton bud,
Gaulish boud-, in many personal names, whether as the only
root (cf. Boudicca, "Victrix") or in compounds, either initial
or as second part: *boudi-; Norse by/ti, exchange, German beute,
booty, English booty, French butin (do.).

glad to, had to,
Old Irish buithi, participle of necessity, from
the verb bí, be: "Is amlid is buithi do chách" - Thus ought
it to be with every one (9th Cent. glosses); Gaelic "Is buidhe do
gach neach".